News article claims Nursing shortage is on the rise in MA.

Esme12, ASN, BSN, RN · Aug 7, 2012

The hospitals and administrations continue to propagate this nonsense to glut the market with nurses to lower salaries and decrease benefits........it really make me angry. :madface:

A nursing shortage appears to be on the rise in Massachusetts, according to the latest workforce report from the Massachusetts Hospital Association and the regional chapter of the Organization of Nurse Leaders.

Like they have no vested interest.....That's the fox watching the hen house.

cally527, RN · Aug 7, 2012

Did you click on the link in the article that brings you to the report? I read through it and it doesn't seem to be anything more than pretty charts that make it seem like MA hospitals are severely understaffed.

What kills me is that the report is from the Mass Hospital Assoc. and the Organization of Nurse Leaders MA & RI. You would think that at the very least, the Organization of Nurse Leaders would want the truth to be out there in the public. I think that this article and the report associated with it have done nothing more than muddy the waters even more about the "nursing shortage".

Don't get me wrong, I would love it if the article and report were really on to something because a shortage would mean better treatment of nurses (wages, hours, benefits, incentives) But as someone who is about to start their first semester of nursing school, it is discouraging to me to see the press printing a story like this with documentation from authoritative sounding sources. I am already concerned about getting a job after graduation because now even the smaller hospitals in the area are all starting to require BSN's. (My program is an ADN)

Esme12, ASN, BSN, RN · Aug 7, 2012

I read it.........it's a bunch of rhetoric baloney! The nurse executives have as much of a vested interest in keeping salaries low and the field saturated as the hospitals themselves......low wage, decreased benefits, poor conditions/patient ratios.

You will find that in nursing it's all bout the bait and switch. There is a market glut. Hopefully the economy will take a turn for the better. There are positions...they just aren't hiring to them. Several hospitals I know advertise jobs...actually have hiring freezes. Sigh...

I know that ADN's are still being hired in non magnet failities and the further you get out of bostion the better it is.........good luck in school.

KelRN215, BSN, RN · Aug 7, 2012

I just saw this posted on facebook. The article doesn't say ANYTHING about an actual nursing shortage, just about hospital vacancies. Hospitals refusing to hire sufficient staff does not equal nursing shortage.

I'll tell you right now, my former hospital's vacancy rate is probably at least 25% higher than it was 5 years ago. That's not because of a shortage of nurses or applications... it's because they're driving people away and not replacing them! Heck, this "nationally ranked best hospital" is closing floors, laying off nurses and eliminating positions but sweeping all of that under the rug.

There is no shortage of nurses in Massachusetts. I work in home care now and very regularly see nurses coming in to interview for private duty positions to supplement their income because their hours were cut in the hospital or they can't make ends meet because of stagnant raises.

NeoPediRN · Aug 8, 2012

The truth is there is absolutely a nursing shortage, but it's a created shortage because of budget restraints and cutbacks. All those open positions you see are left open on purpose because of freezes. I have a tiered health insurance company that will give me a discount for using Tufts Medical Center because that is who my hospital is affiliated with. I would rather pay an extra $1000 to use another Boston hospital because Tufts is so dangerously short staffed. I remember doing a transport there with a baby with a GI bleed, trached, on TPN, who was febrile and absolutely needed the PICU...but instead I transported it to the regular pedi floor where the nurse had 6 patients, and two of them were back to back admissions....yet there are 4-6 pedi positions posted at all times on the website. Last time I checked PICU had 3...and the sad thing is the sentinel events still don't make hospitals beef up their staffing. It's all outcomes and performance improvement driven, but they don't want to hear that the only thing that is going to truly improve those goals is to have adequate, safe staffing. That said, I feel very lucky to work for a safe, financially sound hospital that is very much built around bedside care and nursing.

Stephalump · Aug 8, 2012

So, if I'm reading this right, the vacancy rate has gone up .9% from last year, but it's STILL less than what it was 2 years ago?

I don't really understand why this equates a shortage on the rise (that sounds weird.) Wouldn't a shortage mean hospitals do not have people to FILL those positions? If there truly is a shortage, there had better not be one unemployed hirable RN (that sounds weird, too) in that entire area!!!!!

allnurses Guide · Aug 8, 2012

I saw that report yesterday and found that the average vacancy rate over the years since they started doing their survey (which is a voluntary response that a variable percentage of facilities will respond to) the average rate was 4%, making their numbers actually an improvement from the past. I thought that rate mixes harder-to-fill categories in with new grads, too. The headline was written by the author and is somewhat misleading. Anyway, I found this in my inbox today, so apparently she got some reaction to it . . .

http://features.rr.com/article/08gd3M32XX4oj?q=Massachusetts

Stephalump · Aug 8, 2012

I saw that report yesterday and found that the average vacancy rate over the years since they started doing their survey (which is a voluntary response that a variable percentage of facilities will respond to) the average rate was 4%, making their numbers actually an improvement from the past. I thought that rate mixes harder-to-fill categories in with new grads, too. The headline was written by the author and is somewhat misleading. Anyway, I found this in my inbox today, so apparently she got some reaction to it . . .
http://www.boston.com/whitecoatnotes/2012/08/07/what-nursing-shortage-some-rns-say-they-are-struggling-find-work/c35CGHWVg5SnCvCAG1rNDM/story.htm

Ok, so there are more vacancies than there were in 2010, but less than the average 4% over the last 24 years.

So there were more openings last year than the year before, but still not as many as there have been in the last 24 years

The title is very misleading, indeed.

RN_SummerSeas, MSN, APRN, NP · Aug 12, 2012

No one wants to hire RN's w/out a BSN and therefore your shortage (in my area) so there are PLENTY of RN's DYING to work but we can't b/c no one wants us! GRRRR!!!!

allnurses Guide · Aug 15, 2012

If for any reason a shortage actually does return, they'll want you. If there's one thing this whole business has taught me, it's that most employers are soulless and mercenary. Has anyone noticed them offering a pay incentive to the nurses who went to school longest? Not really. Essentially, because of the economy, they are getting something they claim to value for free. What's not to like?

FlyingScot, RN · Aug 15, 2012

There's a shortage of nursing jobs not a shortage of nurses willing to do the job.